On September 28, Boys Town employees spent a couple of hours talking to youth in the North Omaha community about healthy friendships at a "Friend Me" workshop.
Held at Mt. Calvary Church near the Boys Town North Omaha office, Alesia Montgomery, Boys Town Senior National Training Consultant and Laura Buddenberg, Director, Boys Town Pastoral Affairs, spent the evening discussing topics found in the book they co-authored titled Friend Me! 10 Awesome Tips to Fun and Friendship.
"The goal was to have youth walk away with a better understanding of how good friendships are created and to learn what social skills are necessary to maintain those friendships," said Alesia Montgomery.
"We were looking into things we can offer in the community," said Laura Buddenberg. "The beginning of the school year was a good time to have this workshop because kids and parents are interested in making and maintaining good friendships."
During the workshop, Buddenberg and Montgomery touched on friendship skills, such as getting along with others, being sensitive to others' feelings, being honest with your friend, knowing if you can trust somebody, and many more.
The workshop was a first for the Boys Town office in North Omaha, but both Montgomery and Buddenberg said there will be more to come. Both women are working with Nick Juliano, Senior Director of Community Impact for Boys Town, and North Omaha office employees to plan more workshops and events.
"We want to work with the North Omaha community to host more of these for parents and kids alike," added Montgomery.
In fact, Montgomery said they had a lot of help from the community to get the first speaker series event off the ground. A donation from SAC Federal Credit Union provided food and beverages for attendees and Mt. Calvary Church graciously served as the meeting spot.
"This was a great way to collaborate with other people in the community, and it took the entire community to make this event a success," she said.
Both parents and kids were happy to learn more about Boys Town and to learn more about creating healthy friendships. Each youth that attended the event received a signed copy of Buddenberg and Montgomery's book.
"The Sunday after we had the event, I had one mom come up to me and tell me how much her daughters really enjoyed the workshop," said Montgomery.
In addition to working with kids, Donna Stewart, Staff Psychologist, Boys Town East Behavioral Health Clinic, was on-hand to pass out brochures and talk with both parents and youth about the other programs and services Boys Town has to offer.
The next workshop will be for parents with a focus on mental health and will be held by Donna Stewart.
